Israel's atrocities continue and worsen (video)

Eds., Wisdom Quarterly; Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Mohammed Omer (live from Gaza), Aaron Mate, Nermeen Shaikh (DemocracyNow.org, 7-29-14), KPFA

The "State of Israel" has two goals, exterminate Palestinians and win PR war in the U.S.

 

Overcoming the media blockade in Gaza

Amy Goodman with Denis Moynihan 

Host Amy Goodman

One of the greatest challenges in understanding the real situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories is getting reliable information. This latest assault on Gaza reaffirms the key role played by the U.S. media in maintaining the information blockade. [Our U.S. F-14 fighter planes are used by Israel in its/our bombing of Palestinian civilians manned by Israeli pilots trained by the U.S. military-industrial complex]. It also highlights the increasing importance of pressure applied by social networks.

25 x 6 mile prison, 1.8 million prisoners

With a reporter in Gaza right now (Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who took this picture of a Palestinian baby harmed by Israel now in the hospital)... Despite [another phony] U.N. Security Council call for a ceasefire, Israel has intensified its attack on Gaza and warned the world of a "protracted campaign," more war crimes against civilians justified by saying it is only trying to kill Hamas members.

Palestinian officials say they have killed more than 110 people in the past 24 hours, with some saying Monday was the most intensive night of bombing the civilian city of Gaza so far. During this time, Israel attacked more than 150 sites including Gaza’s only power station and a media center that houses the broadcasting headquarters of Hamas and a number of other Arab satellite news channels. News of what is really going on under Israeli military oppression will not be allowed to get out unless Israel controls the broadcast, the access, the PR, the message, and the spin.

• AUDIO: How Israel's propaganda machine works (July 29)

Gaza A-J America (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

Earlier on Monday, ten people were killed, eight of which were children, and 40 others wounded by a bomb in a park near the beach in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. The child victims were said to be playing on a playground swing when they were hit by Israel.

Israel, to add confusion to the chaos, denies carrying out the attack -- even though eyewitnesses said the explosion was caused by an Israeli airstrike.

Another Israeli bombing reportedly hit an outpatient building of Gaza’s main hospital, al-Shifa. Meanwhile, ten Israeli soldiers were said to have been killed on Monday. Fifty-three Israeli soldiers, two Israeli civilians, and a Thai Buddhist migrant farmworker have died since Israel's assault began.

Democracy Now! goes to Gaza City to speak with correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous. "[Israel has] shelled hospitals, U.N. schools; they’ve bombed people in their homes," Kouddous reports. "There’s literally nowhere for these people to run to." [All borders are blocked to Palestinians by Israel, who wants 1.8 million civilians hemmed in and killed by airstrikes, gunboats, ground invaders, and spies.] "Nowhere to Go": Gaza suffers one of deadliest...

 

We (U.S.) support war crimes. Israeli media control makes sure of it. See A-J U.S.

Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer: Lifting Israel's blockade isn’t a Hamas demand — it’s a human right:

Today is Eid, the feast and culmination of Ramadan, the holiest month on the Islamic calendar. But there is no opportunity to observe or celebrate it. The number of Palestinians murdered by Israel has topped 1,100 after one of the deadliest 24-hour periods since Israel began an assault on a section of Palestine/Israel called "Gaza" 22 days ago.

Most of the murdered have been civilians. More than 1 out of 10 (180,000) Palestinians have been displaced over the past three weeks. This is roughly 10 percent of the population of the Gaza Strip, an open air prison that is one of the most crowded, densely populated pieces of land in the world.

Democracy Now! is joined from Gaza City by award-winning Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer. "I believe Israel wants to make people turn against the resistance," Omer reports. "There is no way for people to turn against the resistance -- in fact it is the other way around. People in the street say we do support resistance because that is the only way to end the occupation. 

"...I’m afraid we are going to have more radical generations in the Gaza Strip, and I fear for the future of Gaza and the future of the West Bank [the two remaining parts of Israel where all indigenous Palestinians have been corralled into areas like concentration camps, refugee camps, and metropolitan prisons where Israel controls everything that goes in and comes out in addition to raining down death on civilians any time it wishes] -- and I fear the future of the region if the international community is not acting now to end the blockade and the operation in Gaza." Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer: lifting Israel's blockade...

• Jeremy Scahill: leaked U.S. "Terrorist Watchlist Rulebook"...
• Mass U.S. surveillance targeting journalists and lawyers...
• Israel intensifies assault on Gaza; Palestinian toll tops 1,100
• 8 children killed in Gaza while playing on swings
• NYC: 9 arrested in peace protest outside offices of pro-Israel group
• Ukraine clashes kill 19 civilians; US, EU to unveil sanctions on Russia
• U.S. accuses Russia of violating arms treaty
• Afghanistan: Suicide bomber kills Hashmat Karzai, the Afghan president’s cousin
• Report: Pentagon failed to track weapons sent to Afghanistan
• Syria: More than 2,000 killed in one of war’s deadliest periods
• West Africa faces deadliest ebola outbreak in history

Full "Democracy Now!" show for July 29, 2014 (democracynow.org)

Decrying "brutal operation taking place in our name," Israeli military reservists refuse to serve As Israel pledges to continue the assault on Gaza for "as long as is required," we are joined by two Israelis who have refused to serve in their country’s military reserves. On Tuesday... (July 24, 2014) 

Pressuring Israel, Presbyterian Church divests from firms tied to Israel's occupation of Palestinian land In what is being hailed as a major milestone for the global campaign to boycott and divest from Israel over its treatment of Palestinians, the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to divest from three... (June 23, 2014) 

A war on campus? Northeastern University suspends Students for Justice in Palestine chapter The Northeastern University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine has become the latest student group to face reprimand for organizing around the Palestinian cause. Northeastern has suspended... (March 13, 2014) 

Investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald: Edward Snowden "satisfied" by worldwide outrage over secret U.S. spying operations In this Web-only interview, Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald reveals that he talked to NSA leaker Edward Snowden on Saturday. "He is doing very well in terms of his mindset, his demeanor," Greenwald... (July 08, 2013 blog post) 

Lawmakers threaten funding of Brooklyn College for hosting event on BDS campaign against Israel New York politicians are threatening to cut funding to Brooklyn College if the school hosts a forum Thursday night about the Palestinian-led BDS campaign to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel. (February 06, 2013)

The Truth About Religion (audio)

Wisdom Quarterly; the Right Reverend Alan Watts (alanwatts.org)

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, which truth is the truest of all?"

The Episcopalian minister turned Zen Buddhist priest Alan Watts blows the lid on the real meaning of religion as it is practiced in the West and East. It is staggering what we have come to in the West looking to the insights of the East for guidance. Watts originally delivered this two part talk under the name "Democracy in the Kingdom." Part 2 will be played on the first Sunday in July at 8:00 am. This one was aired on June 29, 2014 at 8:00 am. AUDIO: PLAY

What is Mahayana Buddhism? (video)

Amber Larson, Seth Auberon, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Alan Watts ("Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life," KQED TV, San Francisco); The Partially Examined Life

Mahayana pantheon of saints surround Catholic-style Kwan Yin (Dlakme/flickr)

Mahayana monastics of the "northern" school, Far East (Ian's/flickr.com)

What is the later "Great Vehicle" (Maha-yana) school of Buddhism, and why is it so mixed up with ancient Vedic Brahmanism and modern Hinduism?

• RADIO: Alan Watts on KPFK 90.7 FM, worldwide

The People's Game: Football, Soccer (video)

Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; ThePeoplesGame.org (KPFK)

Mexico is better than Brazil is better than Netherlands is better than Venezuela is better than USA is better than Germany...and if you disagree, we'll beat you outside the match!

What about Women's Soccer or women's anything? That's an abomination (FEMEN)

(MS13) Comic Futebol, Football/Soccer, world's most popular sport, courtesy of Australia

I'll kill ya, Futballer! You'll be assassinated for that mistake! You will rue the day! Die!

As Ivory Coast kicks off against Greece, Didier Drogba, the footballer who ended a war, is being cheered on. After qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, Drogba and his teammates appealed to their fellow citizens to lay down their guns after five years of civil war. A ceasefire was called, and Drogba became a hero to peacemakers everywhere (The PG).

• AUDIO: People's Game: PLAY (download), June 25, 10:00 am
• VIDEO: When "The Cup" was Tibetan Buddhist obsession
• "The [World] Cup" (Phorpa) by Satellite Dish
• "The People's Poet" Pablo Neruda under the stars
• U.S. Torture Awareness Month (Interfaith, ICUJP)

Mexico (Los Angeles' soccer favorite team) wins: celebrates victory over Croatia

 

The People’s Game Podcast #13: 6/24/14

(June 25, 2014) On today’s podcast, the politics of food -- specifically, Luis Suarez’s choice of snack in the 80th minute of the Uruguay-Italy match. Alan Minsky and Meleiza Figueroa discuss today’s bizarre events. Then David Goldblatt, soccer historian and author of Futebol Nation: The Story of Brazil through Soccer. Next, People’s Game correspondent Lezar Treschan helps make sense of Uruguayan gastronomy. And finally, author, comedian Prof. Gustavo Arellano (Editor, OC Weekly) celebrates Mexico’s glorious victory over Croatia and their advancement to the second round.
 

Revolution: The Zapatista team is mixed male and female (thepeoplesgame.org)

 

The People’s Game Podcast #12: 6/23/14

War, what war? Poverty? Huh?

(June 24, 2014) On today’s podcast, the focus is on Mexico and the Netherlands, whose victories today mean they will face off against each other in the Round of 16. Alan Minsky and Meleiza Figueroa recap Holland’s win, as well as El Tri’s ecstatic victory and how the rise of CONCACAF may reflect on Europe’s dominance of the game and give a preview of tomorrow’s matches. KPFK’s Antonio Gonzalez speaks with David Brooks of La Jornada on how Mexico’s conservative government is using the team’s glory to distract people from the dramatic and reactionary economic reforms being rammed through the legislature. Finally, we reprise Minsky’s 2010 interview with David Winner, author of Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer.

 

Pacifica Free Speech Radio: Anti-Imperialist World Cup party, L.A. (KPFK.org)

 

The People’s Game Part 2: Brazil Rejects Neo-Liberal Soccer

Alan Minsky (KPFK.org) and Meleiza Figueroa (Before It's News)

What FIFA has imposed on Brazil is a kind of soccer that is nearly unrecognizable. So it is heretical to the people who have over the course of more than a century made this sport into a national religion.

Before It's News (beforeitsnews.com)

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Riots, police state crackdowns, and big corporate business for Brazil (occupy.com)

War will be endless, but keep playing the ball game (mediaexposed.tumblr.com)

 
Bread and Circuses News (democracynow.org)
 
"A Neo-Liberal Trojan Horse": Dave Zirin on Brazil’s mass protests against World Cup displacement 
Thousands of people marched in Brazil in one of the largest protests against [corruption related to] the 2014 World Cup. Members of the Homeless Workers Movement blocked a major freeway in São Paulo to protest massive...

Dave Zirin on the World Cup we won’t see on TV: protests, tear gas, displaced Favela residents
As the 2014 World Cup in Brazil enters fifth day, the U.S. will play its first game of the tournament against Ghana. Meanwhile, World Cup protests are continuing on the streets of Brazil...

• Brazil: Favela Residents Protest Police Killings 
• Children on the Run: U.S. Detains Thousands of Young Migrants Seeking Safety
  
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As patriotic Americans we prefer Gridiron Death Match, which we call "American Football." We're not dumb: We call Futbol "Soccer" because of England (BusinessInsider.com).

ZEN: "The Void," "Sex in the Church" (video)

Seth Auberon, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Alan Watts (alanwatts); P. Examined Life

"Thou Shalt Have Great Sex" (July/Aug 2013 issue, spiritualityhealth.com)

Brad Warner (Hardcore Zen)

British Zen Buddhist, Taoist, Episcopalian teacher Alan Watts is an inspiration to Californians, where his show continues to air on Los Angeles' Pacifica Radio (KPFA.org) thanks to Roy of Hollywood Tuckman (8:00 am Sundays, midnight Thursdays).

This video is the fourth episode of Alan Watts' 1959 KQED TV series "Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life." (DVDs available at alanwatts.com/collections).

Alan Watts was an unabashed lover

A native of England, Watts attended the King's School near Canterbury Cathedral. At 14 he became fascinated with the philosophies of the Far East. By 16 he regularly attended the Buddhist Lodge in London, where he met Zen scholars Christmas Humphries and D.T. Suzuki. As a speaker and contributor to the Lodge's journal, The Middle Way, he wrote a series of philosophical commentaries and published his first book on Eastern thought, The Spirit of Zen, at age 21. In the late thirties he moved to New York, and a few years later he became an Episcopalian priest. In 1942 he moved to Illinois and spent the wartime years as chaplain of Northwestern University.

• BUDDHIST RADIO: PLAY AUDIO "Sex in the Church" Part 1 (alanwatts.org)
• PLAY AUDIO "Sex in the Church" Part 2 (Sunday mornings, KPFK.org, 8:00 am, Alan Watts)

Square to hippie (ianmack.com)

In 1950 he left the church, and his life took a turn away from organized religion back toward Eastern ways and expanding horizons. After meeting author and mythologist Joseph Campbell and composer John Cage in New York he headed to California and began teaching at the American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco.

There his popular lectures spilled over into coffehouse talks and appearances with the well-known beat writers Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, and Allen Ginsberg. In late 1953 he began what would become the longest-running series of Sunday morning public radio talks, which continue to this day with programs from the Alan Watts Tape Archives.

• Something's Happening - A: PLAY AUDIO Alan Watts "Aldous Huxley's 'Island'" Part 4 (concluding) // Aldous Huxley, “Visionary Experience” // Shinzen Young, "Learning from the Marathon Monks" (Friday, June 20, 2014 12:00 am, somethingshappening.com)

In 1957 he published the bestselling The Way of Zen, beginning a prolific ten-year period during which he wrote Nature, Man and Woman; Beat Zen, Square Zen and Zen; This Is It; Psychotherapy East and West; The Two Hands of God; The Joyous Cosmology; and The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are.

By 1960 Watts' radio series "Way Beyond the West" on Berkeley's KPFA.org had an avid following on the West Coast, and NET TV began national broadcasts of the series "Eastern Wisdom in Modern Life." The first season, recorded in the studios of KQED, a San Francisco TV station, focused on the relevance of Buddhism, and the second on Zen and the arts.

• VIDEO: Watts' account of nirvana (Celestial Elf)
• ZEN RADIO: Alan Watts (audio)
• The Michael Slate Show (Fridays, 10:00 am) PLAY/download How should we understand the dramatic occupation of Iraq's second largest city by ISIS? What about our criminal and immoral invasion and occupation? What should we do in the face of a possible US escalation? Guests: Larry Everest, Revolution Newspaper, Carl Dix, Revolutionary Communist Party (revcom.us), Stop Mass Incarceration Network. An army of 400 cops descended on Harlem June 4 (revcom.us).

Should we tolerate GAYS? No (audio)

Wisdom Quarterly; Sonali Kohlhatkar (uprisingradio.org), S.N. Walters, Tolerance Trap 1

The Tolerance Trap

Texas Governor Rick Perry, speaking in San Francisco last week, likened being gay to being an alcoholic. “Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle...” he said, “you have the ability to decide not to do that.”

“I may have the genetic coding that I’m inclined to be an alcoholic,” he added, “but I have the desire not to do that. And I look at the homosexual issue the same way.” 

 

His controversial remarks come on the heels of the Texas Republican Party expressing its support for so-called “reparative therapy” for homosexuality -- a discredited counseling treatment to “cure” people of homosexuality.

• AUDIO: Segment with Suzanna Walters (entire show)
• David Feldman asks, "Is Rick Perry gay?" answers, yes
• VIDEO: There IS a cure for homosexuality! (Rated R)

What's Republican Perry doing with that pig in his mouth, cannibalism, swallowing? (DFS)

 

We're here, please tolerate us

The progressive response to the idea that homosexuality is a choice is the assertion that people who are gay are born that way, perhaps with a gene that makes them prefer people of their own sex, or in Judeo-Christian terms, “God made them that way.”

Westboro Baptist vs. US Army

Northeastern University Sociology Professor Suzanna Walters has a problem with this approach. She maintains that using the “born this way” approach to gay liberation reduces the LGBT movement to one that will be happy with “tolerance” or “acceptance” by mainstream American society.

 

Gays are evil! God hates them! (Westboro)

But is tolerance something worth fighting for? In asking to be tolerated, aren’t gay rights advocates simply asking society to tolerate the LGBT community like one tolerates anything that is uncomfortable or undesirable?

What does Buddhism say?

In her ground breaking book The Tolerance Trap: How God, Genes, and Good Intentions Are Sabotaging Gay Equality, Walters demands liberation over acceptance and warns against declaring victory for gay rights too soon.

Analyzing pop culture’s depictions of gay characters, the marriage equality movement, scientific research into homosexuality, and religious approaches, she makes the case that nothing less than full equality and a societal transformation is worth fighting for. More

GUEST: Prof. Walters is Director of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, author of All the Rage: The Story of Gay Visibility in America.

Bob/David explain Overcome, a Christian Center for Reparative Therapy

College: "affirmative sexual consent" (audio)

CC Liu, Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; AirTalk (scpr.org, May 30, 2014); Savannah Badalich (Huffington Post), Michael Slate Show (KPFK.org), Sunsara Taylor

Two weeks into my 2nd year at UCLA, I was sexually assaulted by a friend and fellow Bruin during a student government retreat. I was a director within the group... More

Huffington Post? It was sold to a conglomerate (Tom Tomorrow/thismodernworld.org)

.

FEMEN says no to patriarchy and sexism

The California Senate passed a bill Thursday, which requires colleges to incorporate an "affirmative consent standard" when investigating sexual assault [from rape to harassment] complaints.

 

It's an outrage! Not in my India! (AJ)

State lawmakers say college campuses need a cultural change to prevent sexual assaults. Senators Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) and Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) -- co-authors of SB 967 -- say sexual relations between students should not leave room for ambiguity.

 

Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-LA (AP)

We know that "No means no [and only yes means yes]," but is there more than one way to give consent to sex? Is this bill primarily about spurring a new attitude toward sex for college students? How would complainants prove they never said yes, and vice versa? LISTEN (17:09)

Guests: Kevin de Leόn, (D-Los Angeles) California Senator who co-authored SB 967 and Mark Hathaway, private defense attorney in LA, whose practice includes students and others accused of sexual misconduct.

• India: three brothers confess to gang-rape, murder of teens
• India's Fuedal Rapists [and the Shakya caste] (NY Times)
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• Tell me how you drink your coffee, so I can tell you who you are (Food for Thoughts)
   

The Left Forum 2014 (audio)

Amber Larson, Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; NYC, LeftForum.org

Left Forum 2014 Special Programming (KPFKorg) (ARCHIVE)

Women, gun laws intersect in Santa Barbara

Sonali Kolhatkar (uprisingradio); Crystal Quintero, CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly

University students gather near Royce Hall at UCLA to pay tribute to the Isla Vista victims during a candlelight vigil Monday made front page of LA Times (Wally Skalij/latimes.com).

  
Misogyny and Gun Laws, Isla Vista

A mass killing in the Santa Barbara County town of Isla Vista on Friday resulted in seven people dead, including the suspected perpetrator, and 13 injured.

Twenty-two year old Elliot Rodger, a privileged young man of half-Anglo, half-Chinese descent, is alleged to have stabbed his three male roommates and then turned to a sorority on the UC Santa Barbara campus.

• For a "misogynist gun spree" there sure were a lot of male victims, stabbing deaths, and car injuries. But never mind that! We must focus on guns. Guns are the problem. This doesn't happen in China. In China mass murderers use knives. Is Rodger a new Candy Jones, another Monarch Butterfly?

Guns don't kill people. It's mostly the bullets.

There he killed another young man and two women. Rodger also struck several people with his car as he drove around Isla Vista shooting at people before ending his own life [the planned containment of all programmed shooters]. Shortly before his killing spree, Rodger posted a 137-page document detailing his life story and his motivation for the killings, as well a seven-minute YouTube video.

• AUDIO: Robyn Thomas and Katie McDonough
• AUDIO: entire program with host Sonali Kolhatkar

Rodger’s mother warned authorities about him after he began posting disturbing video earlier this year. But the young man managed to convince police that there was no reason to detain him.

Elliot Rodger has been linked with the so-called “Men’s Rights” movement. In his video and written “manifesto” he lamented being constantly sexually rejected by the white blonde women he was attracted to, and he resented men who enjoyed popularity with women. 

 

The killings have also prompted New York’s [opportunistic] Republican Congressman Peter King to call for enhanced background checks for gun sales. Richard Martinez, the grieving father of Christopher Michael-Martinez, who was among those murdered, made an impassioned plea at a press conference. More

GUESTS: Robyn Thomas, Executive Director of Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, based in San Francisco, Katie McDonough, assistant editor for Salon, focusing on politics, culture, and feminism. She wrote the commentary, “Elliot Rodger’s fatal menace: How toxic male entitlement devalues women’s and men’s lives.”

Commentary

General editorial consensus, Wisdom Quarterly

You a woman? (damnhangover.com)

Wait. Is Wisdom Quarterly opposed to guns or not? Opposed. We are opposed to ALL guns. But we are NOT anti-gun advocates.

Why, if you oppose all guns, are you not anti-gun?

When we as Americans finally advocate that guns be taken out of the hands of militant killers (police) and government agents (soldiers), we will say "no more guns." The anti-gun lobby, however, is part of the police state -- unwittingly so -- because all it asks for or demands in the wake of these very predictable incidents is that they be mandated out of the hands of citizens. What should be put in their place? "Give them more psych meds" seems to be the implicit answer. Dr. Drew (LovelineShow.com, May 27, 2014) was advocating forced institutionalization and forced drugging of anyone a psychiatrist says needs it. Is that the world we want? Should we bring back personality-numbing electroshock-therapy now in the nicer chemical guise?

College students return to class after UC Santa Barbara rampage (David McNew/SCPR.org)

 

"I do not perform for gender" (TOI)

Citizens are not the main problem. Authorized-criminals in uniforms and undercover are the main problem. Let's do something about that instead of using every sensationalized and possibly set up situation as the pretext to launch social media campaigns ("I'm a radical, I'm on Facebook!"), "hashtag activism," and Democratic gun-control drives. Look at Canada: full of guns and no where near the problem of anyone getting shot. Why? It's not the guns.

Misogyny (hating women) is a problem. Let's address that, not as the violent aberration of a young mental health patient but as the everyday garden variety violence of mostly "well adjusted" men and lots of women. When someone says or does something as outrageous as Rodger, it is said people rush to say, "Not all men." And that's true. But you know what? Yes all women. The oppression that is part and parcel of our society affects ALL females all day long, even jerks gems like Sarah "Caribou Barbie" Palin and FOX News' Ann Coulter, who contribute to the problem and oppression rather than advocating any viable solution.

 

SlutWalks across the USA and world

What are we doing in our daily lives? You don't have to be a Ukrainian FEMEN sextremist or Russian Pussy Rioter or Indian anti-rape bus striker (do you want a death penalty for rape out of revenge that replaces actually addressing the systemic problem?) or topped/topless American "SlutWalk" ("We know you aren't him") participant to do something. Male ally Hugo Schwyzer was no ally. There is a lot we can do, all women and all male allies. 

• SlutWalk protests against sexual violence go global (CNN, May 10, 2011... A statement by organizers of a forthcoming SlutWalk protest in London... According to the SlutWalk Toronto website, women have historically...
• SlutWalk marches sparked by Toronto remarks (BBC)